Did you re torque the heads after break in? You should do that, and do that on this rebuild..

You Should also get a recovery kit..this will keep the air OUT of the system and can cause hot Pockets, and poor circulation (air Bubbles) .. The Recovery will draw back coolant when it expels air, instead of more air.

ok, here's a little update. Got the engine reassembled as far as the heads and intake, everything torqued. Now my sticking point seems to be getting my distributer to go back in where it came out of. I marked it on there, as to re-align it, and I can't get it to drop back in. It will go in all except about 1/4 inch or so. I did not crank over the motor at all after it was pulled. Anybody have any hints? I must be missing something obvious.

The oil pump drive shaft probably turned a little bit on its own when you removed the distributor.......You can take a long reg screwdriver with distributor out and turn the oil pump driveshaft a little bit and try sticking the distributor back in.......

need some quick info. Me and a guy at work were arguing about this. I torqued my head bolts all to 65 ft. lbs. according to the haynes manual. Is that the right torque spec ? or is the book wrong? He thinks it should be more than that. I'm at a spot where I can torque them farther if I were to need too. I've got 5 or 6 inches of snow sitting on top of my truck , waiting on it to melt before I go any further putting it back together

thanks, fellas. Well, so far so good, today I got it most of the way back together, got the valve covers cleaned and re-installed, carb back on, headers on, and new spark plugs in. this morning I used the screwdriver in the dist. hole, small turn, fell right in on first try.
also got the water pump re-installed. then I ran out of daylight.
Tommorrow I'm hoping to get it finished and fired up. I'll post a final update to let you guys know if I got it.
thanks again

one more quick question, fellas. I got the whole thing back together, double checked everything, it all looks good to go. So, I refilled the radiator, and then I drained the oil for a fresh change. And, low and behold, I got the standard half gallon or so of antifreeze that drained out before the oil did. My question is that I was wondering if, after I change the oil and get 'er running again, should I change the oil and filter again soon, like within 40 or 50 miles? Would there still possibly be some leftover antifreeze in there hiding? Or should it be fine without the extra oil and filter change? thanks again

also, doc vette said earlier that I should re-torque the head bolts after a "break in" The fel-pro gasket set I used said that there was no re-torque necessary. I figure it wouldn't hurt to re-torque them anyways to be sure. what kind of breakin time should I give it before re-torquing?

Anyways, its all done, changed oil, refilled antifreeze. Went to fire it up, got nothing, no gauges. I DO have headlights. I threw the jumper cables on it, and could still get nothing on gauges or anywhere inside, only headlights.

Well, I didn't think anything of it at the time, but during the "process" at one point the red lead from the back of the alternator shorted out as it was just hanging there. Do you guys think I cooked something in there somewhere? where would a likely place to start be? I tried to check all the connections at the distributer, they are all plugged in, battery cables are hooked up and tight, and I'm about 99.9 percent sure that its all hooked up, and tight.

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